4th Grade: Wax Museum

4th Grade: Wax Museum

Our 4th grade students held their ever-popular “Wax Museum” event at school recently, with rave reviews from parent, student and staff visitors to the “museum”. The students worked hard on this assignment, and learned so much from this project. All of the kids were in costumes, portraying well-known historical figures, and standing in front of their backdrops as still as can be. Wax Museum visitors walked around the room, looking at the famous people, reading the backdrops, and pushing the display “buttons” to hear students tell about the life of their historical figures and why they were important.

The steps involved in this assignment included:

Choosing a famous person and finding a biography about them

Researching, taking notes about the person

Authoring a report about the person

Gathering pictures and creating the colorful backdrop (with a tri-fold board or other creative backdrop “scene”)

Creating and memorizing the live display speech

Gathering items for the costume

Live presentation at the Museum (while standing still for an hour!)

Our teachers use this assignment as a wonderful tool to integrate social studies with reading and writing skills, and enjoy giving our students an opportunity to let their creative juices flow. It is just one more opportunity for our younger students to learn from our older students, and for our entire school community to celebrate learning and the achievements realized by hard work.